Dangers Of Chlorine In Your Water

Views [2906]    Published:2016-08-24 11:02:52

What is Chlorine?

Chlorine is a disinfectant added to drinking water to reduce or eliminate microorganisms, such as bacteria and viruses, which can be present in water supplies. The addition of chlorine to our drinking water has greatly reduced the risk of waterborne diseases. If you’ve ever been to a swimming pool, and most of us have, you’ll recognize that distinct chemical chlorine smell from the pool water. Most swimming pools use chlorine to disinfect the water and keep any bacteria or algae from growing, but that chemical also has tremendous adverse affects on our health.

Why Is Chlorine So Dangerous?

Chlorine was used in it’s gaseous form as a chemical poison weapon during World War I, and the results were disastrous. Today, chlorine is used in swimming pools, household cleaning supplies, and water treatment plants that end up as our drinking water. At room temperature, chlorine turns into a gas that is easily inhaled which can cause a myriad of health problems, so every time you smell that distinct chlorine smell, know that you’re actually inhaling it which can cause many of the following symptoms:

• Skin irritation
• Eye irritation/burning
• Sore throat
• Coughing
• Fatigue
• Wheezing

If the thought of inhaling this toxic chemical isn’t scary enough, then the thought of drinking it should be terrifying. Unfortunately that’s exactly what millions of people do on a daily basis without even realizing it. Since chlorine is one of the most common water treatment chemicals for drinking water, we literally ingest and inhale this highly toxic and corrosive chemical every time we drink a glass of water, take a shower, or wash our hands.

Sure, chlorine is usually detected in small amounts by the time it hits our drinking water, but think about how many times a day we have a glass of water, wash our hands, take a shower, rinse our food, wash dishes, do laundry, and use household cleaning supplies. We are exposed to chlorine multiple times a day without realizing it, and that buildup of chlorine in our bodies can have extremely hazardous effects on our health. Some of the ailments that ingesting chlorine have been linked to are:

• Asthma
• Allergies
• Skin irritation, and dry skin
• Psoriasis, dandruff, and dry scalp
• Hair loss from follicle damage
• Eye, sinus, and throat irritation
• Tiredness, fatigue, dizziness, and weakness
• Gastrointestinal issues
• Headaches
• Increased risk for bladder and rectal cancer
• Increased risk for heart disease

Minimizing Your Risk to Chlorine

Since we can’t afford to wait around for the government to ban chlorine from our water supply, we’ll have to take measures into our own hands.  


Showering and bathing
We can’t avoid staying clean, but there are ways to minimize your exposure to chlorine in your shower by getting a high quality chlorine filter. The one I currently use at my home is the Spa Shower Filter which I like because it helps contain the chlorine vapors along with the chlorine in the water.

Vitamin C is also one of the best way to neutralize chlorine and chloramines in the water. 


Drinking Water
Since water treatment plants use chlorine to treat and disinfect, we’re going to be exposed to it every time we drink a glass of water. Get a Water Filter Pitcher for your daily 8 glasses drinking water.  You can get an AlkaVoda water filter system if you get your drinking water straight from the tap. This will help reduce the chlorine and other contaminants left behind in your water supply.


Reverse Osmosis
If you want a truly chlorine and contaminant free water supply, reverse osmosis is the only filtration process that will remove those contaminants for the purest drinking water. You can install an RO system at home, it’s definitely not the cheapest option, but it will ensure that your entire water supply is clean, pure, and most importantly, safe.

We may not be able to eradicate chlorine from our daily lives completely until the government steps in to ban it from being used, but we can take control and minimize our exposure to it.